Conventionally, there have been known an information providing method which enables a fixed station to provide various types of information to a specific movable body, as well as an apparatus used in the method. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (kokai) No. 2002-176551 discloses such an information providing method and apparatus. In the disclosed information providing method, a contents data supply apparatus obtains, from a user who requests provision of information, an ID of an output unit (e.g., printer) owned by the user. The contents data supply apparatus distributes contents data while specifying an output apparatus that can output contents data, by means of embedding, in the contents data, electronic watermark information containing the obtained ID. The user can obtain various types of information represented by the contents data by receiving the contents data by making use of a terminal apparatus to which the output unit is connected. This method enables identification of the user who uses the contents data distributed from the contents data supply apparatus and effectively protects the copyright of the provided contents data.
However, in the conventional information providing method and apparatus therefor, since a user for whom information is provided is specified by use of an ID for identifying an output unit, only a terminal apparatus to which the output unit is connected can receive the contents data. Therefore, when the user changes his terminal apparatus to which the output terminal is connected, he or she must input the ID of the output unit into a new terminal apparatus. Incidentally, work for investigating the ID of the output unit is very cumbersome, and therefore, in some cases replacement of the terminal apparatus is difficult.